0703 - Do Not Write Your Own Sefer - R' Shmuel Levitin

00:01 The Bochrim 770 once asked Reb Shmuel Witten why doesn't he write a Sefer of stories. Reb Shmuel Witten was known as a Baal Shmua. Baal Shmua means somebody who knows a lot of Shmuas, heard a lot of stories. And he was known to tell his stories that he heard from older Hasidim. He even told stories he heard from the Rashbatz and other Hasidim. So he was known for that. So we asked him why doesn't he write a Sefer of stories. So he said, "This is the reason." Because when he was young and he learned Yoreh De'ah, I think he was very young when he learned Yoreh De'ah. I think he started learning Yoreh De'ah maybe when he was 14. I'm not sure, but something very young. And it's a different Limud than regular Gemara, so it was hard for him. So many Shitas and things like that. So he said it was hard for him to focus on exactly to figure out the Shitas. So he went into Yechida specifically to that, for that, to the Rebbe Rashab. And the Rebbe Rashab advised him that the w- the Eitzah to make it easier to fanandek leibn, so to speak, to see the different things, different Shitas, write it down. If you write down, it clarifies it in your mind. But then the Rebbe Rashab added to him, "Aber zolst nisht machn ken chibur." But don't make a Sefer. Now what you would think if you're writing down, maybe making Sefer, aber zolst nisht machn ken

01:13 chibur. So he says to me, "So the melech, the Rebbe, the Rebbe Rashab told him not to write a Sefer, so he can't do that." So it is interesting how a Chasid feels that the Rebbe told him something else, but he told him the idea, nisht shreiben ken chibur, but melech he didn't write a chibur.